Media Information

 
 
 
Collection:
ADJUNCT MODULE C: WORLD ART
Preferred Title:
Costumes for Ballet Theatre of New York Production, Aleko
Image View:
Costume for a surreal rooster character
Creator:
Marc Chagall (Belorussian artist, 1887-1985)
Location:
exhibition: Montreal Museum of Fine Arts (Montréal, Québec, Canada)
Location Note:
1380, rue Sherbrooke Ouest; Chagall: Colour and Music (Exhibition, January 28 to June 11, 2017)
GPS:
45.4987-73.5801
Date:
1942 (creation)
Cultural Context:
American
Style Period:
Twentieth century
Work Type 1:
theatrical mask
Work Type 2:
costume (character dress)
Classification:
Fashion, Costume and Jewelry
Material:
fabric; paint; embroidery
Technique:
appliqué (technique); construction (assembling); painting and painting techniques
Subjects:
apparel; literary or legendary; music; Labor unions; Performing arts; folkloric; dreamlike; dance; ballet
Description:
Created for the 1942 Ballet Theatre of New York (now the American Ballet Theatre) production (premiere Mexico City). Chagall accompanied the Ballet Theatre troupe to Mexico, where, outside the jurisdiction of American stage-painters' unions, he was able to help execute his designs. He also personally decorated many of the more than seventy costumes for Aleko, some of which were sewn by his wife, Bella. Chagall was given the chance to draw upon his memories of Russia through the production of Aleko, a ballet based on a poem by Alexander Pushkin and set to Pyotr Tchaikovsky’s Trio in A Minor. The story follows an aristocratic youth who joins a band of Romany ("gypsy") travelers, falls in love with the chieftain’s daughter, and eventually murders her when she leaves him for another man. The costumes are owned by the Chagall estate. This was his first work for the ballet. (Source: Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA) [website]; http://www.lacma.org )
Image Description:
Aleko includes a large number of fantastical animal characters, who appear dancing wildly during a nightmare scene.
Collection:
Archivision Adjunct Module C: World Art
Identifier:
8A1-CHAGALL-A-C-A11
Rights:
© Scott Gilchrist, Archivision, Inc.

Costumes for Ballet Theatre of New York Production, Aleko